An Arbor Day enthusiast, Imhof is president of Imhof Tractor Service, which handled a variety of landscaping projects, including wetland restoration.

He has a past in farming going back to his childhood in Fremont, where his grandfather ran a dairy farm. Last year, the Pleasanton resident became a member of the Alameda County Fair Association’s board of directors.

“I bought my first tractor when I was 16,” he said.

Imhof donated 40 redwoods and five sycamores; both species are native to the area. Such trees grow between 3 and 4 feet a year.

However, Imhof’s trees are just babies and probably won’t provide much shade this summer when temperatures hit the triple digits. Eventually they will shade a nearby barn to cool the animals.

“In 10 years, they should be 40 feet tall,” he said. “The redwoods should grow 100 feet.”

Arbor Day’s hero is J. Sterling Morton, a pioneer in the 1870s, who was vexed byNebraska’s treeless landscape. After his extensive lobbying, Nebraska celebrated the first Arbor Day. An estimated 1million trees were planted that day, according to the National Arbor Day Foundation.

Every state has its own Arbor Day and specialty tree based on its climate and agriculture. California’s Arbor Day was last week but the national holiday is April 28.

The fairgrounds has plans to plant 35 more trees for the national holiday, some of which will replace trees in parking lots that have been damaged by cars. The 265-acre fairgrounds has more than 2,000 trees.

“Some of these trees are 60, 70, 80 years old and for some species, that is reaching their peak,” said Ed Johnson, the fairgrounds’ maintenance manager. “If you mix up the species and if one gets sick, the others will have a better chance of survival.”

Imhof’s young 6-foot redwoods are considered vulnerable to the weather as their roots mature.

Not only was racial animus a likely factor when Charter Communications repeatedly rejected negotiations with Entertainment Studios, the TV programmer, but Charter's attempt to shield itself from allegations of bias using the First Amendment is also without merit, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.